The Naked and Famous Stay the Course With ‘Simple Forms’

Alex Welch

The Naked and Famous have established a sound and tone that the New Zealand-based band can call its own. Now the indie electronic group has released a full-length studio album, “Simple Forms,” and it’s another step forward in a decade-long career.

Opening with the single, “Higher,” the band starts with a track that sounds just as anthemic and catchy as a number of the more memorable hits from albums such as “Passive Me, Aggressive You.” Wisely, it puts Alisa Xayalith’s powerhouse vocals up front as well, as she belts out the song’s chorus: “Higher, higher / Tonight we raise the dead / Tonight we bury this in fire,” which thousands of Naked and Famous fans are probably already chanting all over the world. From there, the album moves into one of its more interesting tracks with “The Water Beneath,” which changes up the rhythm and tone from “Higher,” without losing the powerful synth-infused dance edge either.

Guitarist Thom Powers takes over the lead vocals in “My Energy,” next, and provides a nice change of pace compared with the Xayalith-dominated tracks, even if it’s clear he’s not able to reach quite the same vocal heights as she does.

The album’s best track comes with “Laid Low,” which doesn’t sound like any of the rest of the new songs. As Xayalith sings, “Take me home, I’m learning to live with ghosts,” Naked and Famous manages to reach a haunting and profound tone, similar that of Scottish synth-poppers Chvrches. Whether or not that group was an inspiration doesn’t matter, because “Laid Low” stands out as one of Naked and Famous’ most interesting and emotional tracks to date. It lands near the end of the album, and manages to give it a much-needed edge of sorrow and depth that some of the other tracks fail to achieve.

This is another solid outing from Naked and Famous, with the group offering up another ten tracks perfectly suited for singing along with the car windows down, or danced to in your bedroom when no one else is watching. It doesn’t do much more than that, but then again, that might be exactly right.

The Naked and the Famous’ “Simple Forms” is available Oct. 14 on Apple Music.